The scaffolding that has surrounded much of the beleaguered building for many months will finally be coming down soon, after emergency work to prevent further deterioration of the building were required.

The local authority had warned the costs, which they had not budgeted for, would have a knock on effect in funding for other schemes.

Inside the Victoria Mills in Grimsby which is currently being repaired

The council has been forced to pay as the "irresponsible" owner of grade II listed Victoria Mills, Khalid Mahmood Chaudhry, director of CPG Investments Ltd, has proved to be impossible to track down.

The fight to trace the private owner was the focus of an episode of The One Show last year and found how the main silo structure had been allowed to slowly decay dangerously, resulting in the adjoining apartments being put at risk, with potential danger to life.

The apartments adjacent to the main silo building were evacuated in February during a period of high winds when dangerous movement was detected in the structure.

Residents of 20 apartments had to be evacuated for safety reasons following advice from a structural engineer.